Gubernatorial candidate makes stop in Macon

Gubernatorial candidate makes stop in Macon

Candidate for governor, David Pennington, stopped in Macon Thursday afternoon to speak with local Republicans.

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) -- Candidate for Governor of Georgia, David Pennington, made a stop in Macon Thursday to meet with local members of the Republican party.

Before his visit at the party's headquarters, Pennington stopped by the 41NBC studios to talk more about his campaign.

He said Georgia is in need of ethics reform and that means, in part, the ethics commission should be an independent agency, not a board appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house.

When asked why he chose to run against an incumbent and member of his own political party, Pennington said, "If it were easy, anyone would run for governor, but it's important for Georgia to get back on the right path."

Pennington, a native of Macon County, says middle Georgia needs what Dalton has.

"More manufacturing... the Macon area is just perfect for manufacturing. You've got plenty of flat land, you're closer to the ports than we are. You've got east, west four lane highways," said Pennington.

He also mentioned Georgia used to lead the nation in per capita income growth and now it's trailing behind.

"Georgia can do better than what we've been doing, you know the problem is we rank in the bottom ten in most economic statistics in America and we should be in the top 10 and with the right policies we can get back their really quickly," said Pennington.

When he served as mayor of Dalton, Pennington donated his salary to fund college scholarships. If elected, he said he'll continue that tradition and donate a portion of his governor's salary to the same cause.